The only thing cooler than arcade tennis games are dinosaurs. So, when you look to marry the two, you’re already setting off on the right foot. Developer Vixa Games is looking to do just this with its upcoming release, Dino Galaxy Tennis. The game is featured in the Steam Game Festival 2021, so we made sure to give it a serve.
Jurassic Worlds
Dino Galaxy Tennis follows the story of two young dinosaurs learning about the fine art of intergalactic tennis from their grandfather. After learning the ways of the racquet, the two embark on a journey through the galaxy, taking on some of the universe’s top talent. It’s cute. I really dug the designs of brothers Eddy and Dexter, particularly the use of color.
The story features a variety of opponents for players to square off against, as well as some training challenges for them to really hone their skills. The training levels were randomly chosen every time you played, but I felt like some levels were on an entirely different difficulty scale than others. Depending on which course I got, it was either a walk in the park or one of the hardest parts of the game.
Solar Serve
Dino Galaxy Tennis can be played with a keyboard, but it’s highly recommended that players use a mouse. The tennis gameplay was by far my favorite part of the Dino Galaxy Tennis demo. Vixa Games really nails the arcade aspect, with a slew of cool power ups to flip the game on its head. I particularly liked the slowed atmosphere and the emergency towers that hinder movement.
Having players defending planets, swinging meteors back and forth across the galaxy is a hilarious way to handle dinosaurs playing tennis in space, and felt really fresh. The game also lets you play vs matches, where you can go head to head locally with a friend, or just take on the CPU. These matches were super challenging, as I got into a legit back and forth while playing 2v2 that came down to the final set. I would love to see the developer add a difficulty slider for the CPU on exhibition matches, as it felt like the NPC players were nearly godlike, including my own teammate. It would make things a bit less brutal for newcomers, while still giving veteran players a serious challenge.
The galaxy’s best
Dino Galaxy Tennis is an exciting arcade tennis title bursting with color and style. Other than the need for some difficulty scaling, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the demo. Vixa Games has the foundation for something excellent here.
These impressions are based on an early demo build provided by the publisher. Dino Galaxy Tennis is set to launch soon, but that's all we know as of now. You can try the game for yourself over on the Steam Game Festival.